Saint Joseph's College - ME
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Saint Joseph’s College of Maine embraces justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion as important cornerstones for academic excellence, student success, institutional and community resilience, and as vital expressions of our Catholic identity, Mercy Charism, and Core Values. We commit ourselves to nurturing highly competent and deeply compassionate leaders ready to serve in a vulnerable world.

Recognizing the dignity of all persons, we seek to address instances of injustice both within and outside our College community from a stance of informed advocacy. In this way we fulfill our core value of community, which calls on us to demonstrate a spirit of connectedness with one another through expressions of hospitality, courtesy, inclusivity, and collaboration. Saint Joseph’s College is the community that grows community, preparing whole people to contribute to a whole world.
https://www.sjcme.edu/about-us/why-sjc/history-mission-core-values-identity/diversity-equity-inclusion/

1. Report is made through our Title IX office - which additionally reviews Title VII reports (via various avenues, but most often, Human Resources, Campus Safety and or Campus Life).
2. Report information is reviewed by Title IX Coordinator (availability of information, participation of reporting/involved parties, and severity of reported behavior/incident are all major factors considered when moving to next steps)
3. Communication to reporting parties to invite them in to meet and discuss the behavior - collect more information, and also share additional support resources (i.e. Confidentiality & Confidential Resources explanation - see pages 7 & 8, applicable to Bias-Incident Reports).
4. Investigation is conducted
5. Conduct Process and Sanctioning is implemented, depending on outcome of Investigative Findings (i.e. a finding of responsibility).

A review of the Code of Conduct will be conducted this Summer 2022, and a clearer explanation and ability to file a Bias-Incident Report will be advertised via the website.

In order to recruit both academic and non-academic staff from
underrepresented groups, Saint Joseph's College has joined the Diversity Hiring Coalition of Maine. Additionally, all job postings are reviewed and vetted by the JEDI Work Group before being posted to ensure inclusive language. The Human Resources Office includes articles specific to HR with a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens in their newsletter and is working with CIGNA Health to offer other resources to all employees. Lastly, all members of the Leadership Team took part in an intercultural development team training with Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants.
Lastly, a new scholarship has been created specifically for underrepresented students with financial need. The College introduced the Talbot Scholars program this past fall, 2021. In this, its inaugural year, Talbot is an initiative designed to attract disadvantaged students (among others) from the public high schools of Portland and Lewiston/Auburn.

The Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) supports our underrepresented students by providing support and guidance in the areas of English Language Learners (ELL) and ADA Accommodations. Additionally, we have Peer Tutoring which is made available through peer-to-peer support, and Peer Mentoring which is available through First-Year Experience (FYE) and Second-Year Experience (SYE). Our student tutors and mentors are put through rigorous training throughout the semester and summer months to ensure they are well prepared/equipped to support this population. Collaboration across campus is key to supporting these students. Faculty and staff are key stakeholders in the students' ongoing success. Software platforms like Brightspace, Readseaker, Smarthinking, and Assistant Technology are also available for all students.

Saint Joseph's College hosts the "Growing Future STEM Teachers in Maine" (GFSTM) program, a National Science Foundation funded partnership between Saint Joseph's College and Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) that aims to prepare students to be STEM teachers in high need school districts throughout Maine. Students involved in the program can be GFSTM Associates, which allows them to participate in all GFSTM activities and, once they are entering into their third year, students can apply for the GFSTM Noyce Scholarship. This is a full-tuition scholarship for students' third and fourth years in college and is open to current Saint Joseph's College students as well as transfer students from SMCC. While at Saint Joseph's College, GFSTM Noyce Scholars receive a full-tuition scholarship for their junior and senior years, travel funds for conferences and workshops, field experiences teaching in partner schools, and lectures and workshops from experts in the field. Additionally, after graduation, students receive an induction coach who conducts classroom observations and provides mentoring and coaching as well as the opportunity to participate in annual professional development and monthly discussions with new and veteran teachers. GFSTM Noyce Scholars are expected to teach for four years in a high-need school district after graduating.

Talbot Scholars program is a whole life cycle program that supports students through their academic years and beyond.

Saint Joseph's College works with individual students to determine the gendered housing that is the most comfortable for them. Currently, there are no housing policies specifically for transgender and transitioning students.

https://www.sjcme.edu/academics/oncampus/programs/stem-education/
https://www.sjcme.edu/academics/oncampus/student-resources/academic-center/
https://www.sjcme.edu/life-and-community/campus-life/clubs/

Talbot Scholars: https://my.sjcme.edu/featured/saint-josephs-college-launches-new-talbot-scholars-program-for-underrepresented-students/
https://my.sjcme.edu/featured/saint-josephs-college-launches-new-talbot-scholars-program-for-underrepresented-students/Talbot Scholars is having the effect we were hoping it would.
Students of color admits
2022 - 147
2021 - 98
2020 - 102